1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless antennae and method of fabricating the same. In particular, the present invention relates to forming antennae embedded in ceramic materials, such as low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) materials.
2. State of the Art
Higher performance, lower cost, increased miniaturization of integrated circuit components, and greater packaging density of integrated circuits are ongoing goals of the microelectronic industry. Although these are the goals of the microelectronic industry, increasing the complexity and speed of a microelectronic die generally increases its size, as well as increasing the number of signals being delivered to and sent from the microelectronic die. This increase in the number of signals naturally requires an increase in the number of signals lines. The increase in signals lines results in increasingly complex routing through the substrate or interposer to which the microelectronic die is attached. The interposer in turn is attached to a primary substrate upon which other microelectronic devices are attached.
With greater complexity of signal line routing, the proper timing of the transmission of information to and from the various microelectronic devices becomes more difficult, because the distances between the circuits become more varied. Naturally, this may adversely affect the performance of the microelectronic devices, as the varied distances may result in delays within the clock signal distribution. For optimal performance, common signals must reach each relevant microelectronic device substantially simultaneously and individual signals must be properly timed.
One solution to such issues is the use of radios to broadcast and receive signals, which, of course, bypasses the signal lines and results in simultaneous receipt and transmission of signals between microelectronic devices. These radios are naturally very small. This minute size results in the antennae of these radios being particularly susceptible to expansion and contraction due to the relatively high coefficients of thermal expansion (“CTE”) of the materials within a microelectronic package in which the antennae are embedded or to which the antennae are attached. This expansion and contraction may cause the signal transmission and/or receipt frequency to change, which can affect proper signal transmission and/or receipt, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to develop apparatus and techniques to effectively isolate on-device antennae from the affects of CTE within a microelectronic package.